Replies

Top 10 for May 13th, 2007

And here be the "top 10" for this week. It's not likely I'll be on the Sunday thread much next week and even less likely that I'll get my preview posted. We're going to Hawaii!!!!! I promise you, I'll think of you all, at least once.... ;^>

Have a good week.

10 - Txsleuth

#303; "WOW...what a great post, Johnnie. ... I had read an article a few weeks ago (sorry, can’t remember where)...about the way the military had been structured in the last 15 years or so....saying that it was on purpose to make the military more 'national guard'... for use 'when necessary'. ... AH...but not if you are Pres. Bush, you can’t 'use them when necessary'.... SO...glad to read your post, much better than I could have explained it. ... You add the lack of humint under the Clintonistas and Carter...and you have the whole other problem of not enough spooks in the areas of the world that are necessary for the kind of enemy we have now." (note: reply to MNJohnnie's post #263)
#306; "I read a column by David Frum recently....and he actually said that part of the GOP’s problems right now stem from Bush’s “misguided attempt to privatize Socialy Security”... Well...Mr. FRUM, used to be a Bush speechwriter..and HAS to know better...but is still spewing mischaracterizations of Bush’s idea, number 1.... and number 2, to actually call that a FAILING, is just so totally WHY the ‘punditocracy’ is so out of touch with Americans. ... Even my son and daughter, who are a tad more liberal than I am...were excited about the possibilty of a portion of their SS taxes to be handled by themselves... Oh...well....with supposed “conservative pundits” like Frum....the GOP will never win...IMHO>"

9 - anita

#14; "Who is in line with majority of Americans - President or democraters?. ... CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. May 4-6, 2007. N=1,028 adults nationwide...." (excellent survey, very telling)
#68; "This Sunday's Media Nuggets..." (another home run)
#97; "Dean & DNC came on FR. Bad choice. Now Powrline joins FR, if there is a fight. ... Here 's a native of Kansas describe what happened there really." (note: here is a link to the Powerline post)

8 - kabar

#193; "Agreed, which is why the Reps would be smart to draw now the comparison between the “War of Choice” and the “Good War” and show the inconsistency and faulty logic of the Dems’ position. Iraq is a civil war, yet Afghanistan is not despite the fact that the Taliban are afghans trying to regain power. Saddam didn’t attack us on 9/11, but neither did the Taliban. AQ is in Afghanistan, but they are also in Iraq. We need a timetable and exit strategy from Iraq but not for Afghanistan despite the fact that we have been there longer. I could go on....:" (note: reply to txradioguy's post #184)
#221; "... they have to show that they are tough on terrorism. Spin with some truth to it. NATO is having a hard time meeting its troop commitments. 'In addition to capping troop levels, Clinton said, she wants to increase troops in Afghanistan and tie U.S. aid to Iraq to certain benchmarks.' ... This is precisely why the Reps need to call them on it. The Dems need to demonstrate why they are hawks in Afghanistan and cut and runners from Iraq, where we have far more important strategic national interests involved." (note: reply to MNJohnnie's post #214)
#251; "Nato struggles in Afghanistan ... Nato is still struggling to find up to 2,500 extra troops for southern Afghanistan and it needs them urgently. ... If they cannot be found then the success of Nato's mission could be called into question and this in turn could have a considerable impact upon future perceptions of the alliance itself. Nato leaders accept that Afghanistan represents a fundamental test for the alliance."
#278; "... It was part of the "Peace Dividend" with the fall of the Soviet Union. Europe has had to choose between guns and butter and has decided upon butter. With declining, aging populations trying to support generous social welfare systems, the Europeans don't have money for both, which is why they are spending less and less on defense. The British Navy will be down to 25 capital ships. Europe has been fortunate that the US has provided the security umbrella for them, but it has warped their view of the real world. ... The US is heading down the same road as our population ages and the entitlement programs consume more and more of our budget. ... <snip>" (note: excellent post, too long to copy, right on analysis)
#287; "I agree we need to restructure our forces to meet future threats. I doubt we will get much help from Europe, which is falling further and further behind us in terms of interoperability between our forces. The US is the lone military power that can project its forces worldwide. ... NATO is becoming more of a political alliance than a military alliance. It is the US and a bunch of midgets. Canada, a nation of 33 million, spends 1.1% of its GDP on defense and has about 65,000 personnel in its armed forces."

7 - txradioguy

#163; "'Funny how all the Democrat Politicians talking about “Ignoring the will of the People” effortlessly ignore all that data.' ... It’s only the will of the people when it fits their Socialist agenda...otherwise what we believe and what is our will is...is just a bunch of babble from the ignorant proles." (note: reply to MNJohnnie's post #158)
#166; "They can’t change their position if they expect to keep their seat in Congress. That is why they are wholly committed to doing anything and everything they can to make sure that we fail in Iraq. ... Because to do anything different...like say...oh actually SUPPORT the troops...would ensure that the DU...KOS and PFTAW crowd would “Ned Lamont” any Dem that tried to shift their position." (note: reply to Morgan in Denver's post #164)
#184; "... they are in favor of sending more troops into a place they were labeling a quagmire less than two weeks after our original operations there began. ... The Democrat Party will support fighting terrorism in Afghanistan as long as they can use it as a club to hammer the President and the Republicans about Iraq. ... Once they don’t have Iraq to kick around anymore, they will “support” the troops in Afghanistan the same way they are “supporting” them in Iraq. ... Afghanistan right now...is merely a means to and end for the Democrats."

6 - Morgan in Denver

#164; "... I’m rereading Tammy Bruce’s book “The Death Of Right and Wrong” and it’s enlightening to remember what is behind the Democrat rhetoric. ... It is also very telling how congress has worse poll numbers than President Bush today. My question now is IF the polls support President Bush and our efforts in Iraq, will Democrats change again and start supporting the military, our president and our country?"
#172; "... I maintain the increased troop loss this past month, and going on now as a matter of fact, is a direct response to Democrat opposition to our efforts in Iraq. At minimum, Democrats embolden our enemies to more violence."
#187; "The Democrats supported the surge until it came about. They oppose everything and anything President Bush proposes because they are not grounded in principle."
#203; "And it’s up to us to spoon feed voters so we can educate them better. Republicans have not done this well in the past. We won and did not follow through with educating the public to maintain our hold on power. Then, too many on our side forgot these lessons ourselves and started abusing power the way Democrats do/did."
#244; "I had not thought about it but I like your comment and calling our efforts a 'peacekeeping force.' Smart idea, in my opinion. That also helps us in making sure Iran does not try to cause more problems because we would be so close. We would be close to Afghanistan if help is needed there and it would be a deterrent for our helping Israel." (note: reply to altura's post #241)

5 - Bahbah

#79; "Timmy trying to make McCain look like a fool over the comments he made while visiting the market in Iraq. ... Timmy quotes a Mr. Fayed. McCain says he doesn’t know him, but he talked to lots of other folks there who said he was glad we were there and that things were better. ... 'But Senator, you had an armed escort' in that tone Timmy has, so incredulous."
#83; "Timmy is very excited that some Republicans are voicing impatience. ... McC says if he is the last man standing he will do what’s best for this country."
#102; "Timmy quoting McCain on opposition to the Bush tax cuts. Video of McCain with how disproportionate went to the wealthiest. ... McCain point out how so much revenue has come in because of them and that it will be a tax increase if you don’t make them permanent. ... McCain says he had his own plan for tax cuts. Timmy says even during a War. McC says yes and the problem is not cuts, but rather spending. ... Timmy says spending on the war is considerable. ... McCain point out other areas of huge spending and unfunded liabilities."
#107; "Timmy asking McCain about Rudy’s pro-choice position and whether someone like that can get the nomination. ... McCain says he could support a nominee who did not agree with him on every position."
#116; "Apparently, McCain is not on the ethonol bandwagon. ... Oops, now Timmy point out how McCain in Iowa is FOR ethanol. ... McCain says it makes sense when oil is at 60 dollars a barrel. He’s for sugar cane, switch grass and other stuff to get energy from. ... McCain makes a pretty good case countering Timmy’s attack playing it up as an adjustment to the realities of today. ... He says we have a serious problem with climate change. Ugh. ... Timmy basically says this position is just because of the Iowa caucuses. Very insulting. McC says he can’t respond to a question like that."
#167; "Brit Hume: the second worst idea after announcing a withdrawal date is to indicate the importance of the month of September. We can expect something like a Tet offensive."
#204; "Egads, Obama just told me he’s not an ideologue. He's gonna bring us all together. Kumbaya, my lord, kumbaya."

4 - Alas Babylon!

#77; "... Can't the driveby media find some real Republicans to INVITE to their shows or does the fact that they pick the same old Bush-bashing RINOs Sunday after Sunday (for the past almost TEN YEARS I've been doing this thread) tell us anything about the DBMs bias and motives?"
#255; "... The Left thinks that their positions are the correct ones and therefore the only valid ones. For others to disagree with them, well they must have either a screw lose, ot are immoral in someway. Ever listen to the song 'That’s Just the Way It Is' by Bruce Hornesby and the Range? That’s a Republican yelling “Get a job!” if you didn’t know! ... The average and vast majority of the pressitutes in so-called journalism today are Leftists in thought, deed, and temperament. They are certainly not unbiased nor fair. Despite their saying so, they do let their political world view flow over to their reporting and they give short shift to conservative thought. They don’t understand conservative thought, except that they’re convinced it is wrong, cold-hearted, and pig-headed. So how can they possibly report on it correctly, or an issue that has a Left/Right disagreement? They’ll get the Right wrong every time. ... The only hope we have is to get more conservatives into journalism school, which is near to impossible, or start becoming journalists ourselves. The web is the way for the latter to take hold. But let’s not kid ourselves; the driveby media still has a formidable lock on political discourse in this country and the West. ... I don’t have an answer for that except to pray God is watching out for our Country. I do believe that is so."
#333; "One thing I like about the tax cuts Bush made (and why they should be permanent) is that they grew the economy. Let’s look at this optimistically. If we can keep taxes down, the money that doesn't get taken will expand the economy and grow tax revenues due to all the newly employed folks paying their (smaller) taxes. ... So if those people who are here illegally are given green cards or workers passes, wouldn't they too have to pay taxes? Wouldn't that actually help? I would also have them pay a 10% hospital and school tax to support the refunding of something they've been getting for nothing these past several years."

3rd place - altura - well, ummmmm, yeah. Just read the posts.

#223; "Right! Follow the money. Papers like the Dallas Morning News have already been sued for padding their subscription numbers. ... And yet they continue in their ways. I only read the first section to check out their lies. Thank goodness we now have alternate ways to find out the truth. Thank you, God, for the new media!!! ... I think the only people who still subscribe are stodgy older folks like me who have always ‘taken the paper.’ ... The domestic partner can’t give up the sports and the comics and I like the tv schedule and the crosswords. ... Otherwise, we’d drop their butts in a Texas minute. (that’s slower than a New York minute, but just as effective)" (note: reply to rodguy911's post #98)
#233; "Why do candidates answer inane and rude and stupid questions from the media??? ... I think people would respect them more if they just said, ‘that’s a rude and inappropriate question and I won’t dignify it by responding.’ ... Or in the case of stupid questions. Like: what songs do you have on your IPOD? They all answered. I wish one of them would have said, 'I don’t answer questions like that and if you ask me what kind of tree I would be, I won’t answer that either.' ... I’d love to hear Fred Thompson say something like that in his wonderful voice dripping with irony. ... On an offshoot of that, I started listening to Hugh Hewitt a few days ago and stopped on the same day when he claimed he had no idea who George Strait is. ... Either that’s a lie because he wanted to show that he thinks country music is stupid and low class, or it’s the truth (which is scarier) and maybe he’s never heard of Dale Earnhardt either. ... I’ll never listen to him again."
#241; "'Didn’t Tommy Franks write in his book that we would be in Iraq with major force for ten years and then double that or more with a protective response force to protect the region?' ... That’s what I keep telling the domestic partner, who is totally against the Iraq war because 'those people have been fighting over there for 4 thousand years and we aren’t gonna stop them, etc.' ... We just need to think of a new name for keeping forces in Iraq for a while. I mean, how long have we had people in Germany? How long did we keep people in Japan and Korea (still in Korea, I think) ... The casualties over there, while even one is horrible, are relatively minor and played up to an immoral extent by the media. ... Peacekeeping Force? Observers?"
#242; "The old ‘abortion should be safe, legal and rare.’ ... Yeah, right. If it is safe and legal, it will never be rare. ‘Personally opposed but.’ ... Somebody said in ‘but’ sentences, forget everything that preceeds the ‘but.’ ... I have never seen my Bible Class teacher look so astonished as the day I told him I was against abortion. ... I’ve shocked him many times, but that stunned him. ... (you may have guessed that I’m Episcopalian in a liberal E church)"
#286; "No, it is a warm, spiritual place, populated by people who love God but who (or at least many of whom) are fuzzy thinking, misguided liberals, who mean well, but who constantly have to be informed and corrected. ... I do my best." (note: reply to romanesq's post #284)

2nd place - rodguy911 - try to get out of being the nominal master of the Jedi Council, will you? Fat chance, sensei!

#21; "... I still say we are having at least “some” influence over at Rupert’s place (FNC). IMHO it’s no coincidence that Michelle Malkin sat in for BOR (and did a stellar job better than O’Reilly best day) and some of the other gals are being seen more and more over there— Monica, Laura etc. All stuff we have been clamoring for here.I just don’t believe in coincidence."
#24; "It will be interesting to see how the msm’s former golden boy is treated this time by Mr. Potato head. The msm must have mixed emotions about McCain since they darn sure don’t want Rudy or Thompson or anyone else in there that can win, they just might be nice to ol’ McCain since he is so hated by the base, we shall see."
#51; "Since the topic of Rinos is up here is a link plus the mother load of all topics this week: ... http://www.anklebitingpundits.com/ ... <snip>" (great list)
#75; "It’s ironic in some circles (not here we already knew) to think that the dem/rats are in league and support such dirtbags like Mookie al Sadr who may be behind the possible withdrawal of US forces in Iraq signed by the Iraqi Parliament on 5/10 or is this just more msm BS. Just follow the many links to the Wapost article beginning at: http://ace.mu.nu/ ... It may be no coincidence that both Mookie and the dems want out of Iraq right now since “the surge is obviously working better than many had even suspected” that’s here: http://www.strata-sphere.com/blog/"
#98; "... I actually heard BOR and Weazley going at it over what a great guy george Soros was!! Weazlely lost but to even have him on FNC is a shame. ... Good to see the top three continue their race to the bottom!! I say let them keep up the good work but let me know when they hit zero. ... When the advertisers start moving money away from the big three they are not in trouble they are doomed,this maybe the start."
#143; "... Here’s one I do recall however and another one given to me by the queen of all links Ali-Veritas. Good stuff here. ... http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/ ... 1.Good info on what a dud Mel Martinez is (hate to say we in ol’sunny Fla. told u so) ... 2.More Iran takes on what it’s like being a woman over there and how U.S. feminists are not speaking out—terrible double standard buy the rats one more time. ... 3.Iraqi Shiites are splitting with Iran—big news over there. ... 4.5 US soldiers killed 3 missing ... all great stuff at Gateway this week. ... here is one from Ali: ... http://powerlineblog.com/archives/017617.php ... Are the DNC lawyers out to shut up FR and talk radio,could be, check out the link above."
#147; "... over here we have Islamberg in NY while the FBI does nada to stop it. It’s here ... http://www.jihadwatch.org/ ... along with: ... 1. It’s a terrorist camp in NY Islamberg, NY; “you can hear gunfire up there”, reportedly the FBI won’t shut it down. ... 2.Fla. doctor supports jihad. ... 3.Egypt muslims burned down Christian churches, seems they wanted to expand and may not have had a permit,so the muzzies,tolerant folks they are, started burning down Christian churches. ... Lots of other great stuff." (yes, it is)
#173; "... on MTP McCain is setting a new record for most key issues pandered to on a tv show appearance.."
#189; "Exactly dem/rats can change positions with lightning speed whenever the stalking points take a new direction. That's why having them in office is supremely dangerous for the country." (note: reply to txradioguy's post #184)

1st place - MNJohnnie - it's so nice when someone's posts speak for themselves and I don't feel that I have to be clever describing them. Hands down for me, number 1 this week.

#87; "So is the DNC still trying to spin it propaganda about the Kansas tornado and Iraq or have they given it up as yet another Dean engineered PR disaster? Interesting bit of data that came to light during Katerina that proves the Gov of Kansas is either totally incompetent or knowingly lying. According to the Adj General of the Illinois Nat Guard during an interview on, I think Hannity’s radio program, in Sept 2005, there exists an set of procedures under which a Gov who has NG troops on active duty can request NG troops from any of the other 50 states to step in to fill a need. The Gov also has the ability to appeal to the National Govt for immediate assistance from the US Military to response to an emergency. ... The Gov of Kansas did NONE of those things. So either she is wholly incompetent to fill her self proclaimed role of “CIC Kansas National Guard” or she is knowingly lying about just why she dragged her feet in responding to the tornado damage. ... So Sue and be damned DNC. You are caught in your own PR trap here. If you want to push this into the courts where you will only highly the hyper partisan hack behavior exhibited here or you demonstrate the Democrat Gov’s complete unfitness for her office. Either way it a Lose-Lose for the DNC"
#135; "... the Republican's don't choose the guest, the Producers of the show decide who is the guest. That is why you only see a good forceful Republican on when they are in opposition to the President and the Republican Leadership on the issue of the day, they are a registered candidate for National Office, or the line up is slanted to make sure the Republican is double or tripled teamed by Leftists guests who will monopolize the conversation and run out the clock. The Sunday shows are no longer "News" programs, they are an illegal contribution in kind to the Democrat Party."
#158; "And OF course “Objective” Journalist Russert lead with the current CNN poll, posted here earlier by Anita, that shows 60% REJECTING the Democrat Congress’s position on Iraq, right? ... Funny how all the Democrat Politicians talking about “Ignoring the will of the People” effortlessly ignore all that data."
#214; "The dirty secret is the "More troops for Afghanistan" spin is pure Political Propaganda. It is designed to do nothing more then give the Democrats an out. "Oh we aren't weak on National Defense, we want to fight the 'Right' war 'in Afganistan.' ... Pull out of Iraq and the focus will then switch to how to get us out of Afghanistan. The simple fact of the matter is for the Leftists establishment there is NO good reason to deploy the US Military ANY where where legitimate US National Interests are to be protected. Just remember these are the SAME people who ran around right after 09-11 squealing about how we had brought 09-11 on ourselves and we needed to understand why they hated and buy off their hate with more foreign aid etc. The simple fact is the current leadership of the Democrat Party will never, under any circumstance, willingly step to the plate and defend the American people with offensive military action. Kerry said it himself in 2004. To Democrats terrorism is merely a law enforcement problem to be responded to after the fact, not really a deadly threat at all."
#231; "Unfortunately I do not see anyone with any talent for political PR anywhere in the current Republican Leadership willing to wage this fight. Seems all we have now days is “Me Too Democrat Lite” in the Republican party. I guess we can simply hope that once the 2008 campaign kicks into high gear we have a strong leader who can pull the party with him. ... I suspect we will end up with the worse of both worlds, a Republican President and a Democrat Congress so our current state of strategic polarization will just drag on and on and on and on."
#256; "No actually that (PH: Democrat Congress and President) would probably be less bad from a National Security standpoint. It would strip the Democrats and their media laps dogs of any political coverage. They would own the whole problem. They would have no scape goats to blame for their utter failures on the National Security front. ... Bad policy pursued for 2 or 4 years is going to be a lot less damaging to long term US Strategic interests then a strategic parlyzation that goes on for 4 or 8 or 12 years. Divide the govt between the Rep and the Dems, given the 1960s utopianistic bubble world the current crop of Democrat Leaders live in, and that is what the end result will be. A complete inability to form any sort of national consensus for any sort of action on anything of critical importance." (note: reply to mtnwmn' post #236)
#263; "... We went to sleep in the 1990s. I mean HEY, History was over and we won right? All the talking heads were saying it. So we let a 12 million person force disintegrate into a....ready for this ... 1.4 million active duty force. When I read that the other day I was just stunned. ... In 1992 we took a marvelous instrument of war and simply threw it in the trash yet again as soon as we thought the war was over! So did all of Europe. ... And we are paying the price for that stupidity now. It takes years and lots and lots of $$$ to build up a seriously professional volunteer force. ... And it is going to be really a lot tougher this time. The Clintonites were really very clever. By pushing so much of the force into NG and Reserve status, they created a political clientele, outside the Military, who are NOT going to ever give up those fat federal dollars flowing into their states for NG troops while at the same time NEVER want those troops actually USED by the Feds! We are going to have to rebuild a large active duty force while fighting the political Establishment tooth and nail for every single body and dollar."
#280; "Oh yeah, I agree we neither want nor need even a 1980s size force. But remember, the original point was about NATO struggling to find a 2500 person force to send to Afghanistan! I would suggest that despite our over whelming technological edge over every possible combination of foes, when we cannot come up with even a single brigade on short notice to deploy we have a serious manpower issue that needs to be addressed!" (note: reply to kabar's post #278)
#305; "So one of the Clintonites that let Bin Laden morph from a minor irritation to a mass murdering monster has decided Afghanistan is a waste of our time too. And anyone is surprised by this? Notice who's fault this prime example of Democrat Party Leadership cadre, has decided 09-11-01 is. Does anyone REALLY think these clowns will fight the war in Afghanistan? Or any where else for that matter if we let them surrender Iraq? ... Known as "Anonymous" when his book, Imperial Hubris, came out in 2004, Michael Scheuer served in the CIA for 22 years and as chief of the bin Laden unit of the Director of Central Intelligence Counterterrorist Center from 1996-1999. Since publication of Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror, and his subsequent resignation from the CIA in November, 2004, Scheuer has offered informed, passionate, and controversial commentary on U.S. policy in the Middle East. Frustrated with the Bush Administration's simplistic portrayal of terrorists as "freedom haters," he talked with BuzzFlash about the anti-American insurgency and the American foreign policy choices that he believes fuel it. ... An advocate of frank discussion of the Muslim perspective, he both urges us, and helps us, to understand this war, and why it won't be easy to end. He also characterizes our recent U.S. presidential campaign as "completely barren on both sides of any discussion of the foreign policy issues that are at play in this war..." We don't agree with everything Scheuer has to say (we think, for instance, there is a distinction to be made between the Sharon Likud government and Israel, just as there is a distinction to be made between the Bush government and America), but he knows terrorism about as well as anybody and needs to be heard."
#307; "Oh yeah, the whole idea was sold as a 'military on a budget' plan. They sold this as a way the politicians could have their 'fiscal conservative' cake and and eat their pork too. I may be being overly paranoid but I do think there were those in the Democrat party who saw it also as a way to make it MUCH harder to use the US Military for anything serious ever. ... Deploying a Guard unit has a much larger emotional impact on a community then deploying a regular military unit. I think there was a cold political calculation made that that would suit the Boomers ideological outlook just fine. Plus it is a marvelous engine for pork barrel spending since you can hide building a new armory or refurbishing the Guards HQ as 'Defense' spending." (note: reply to Txsleuth's post #303)